Off Duty Officer Drops Gun On Playground, 6-Year-Old Picks It Up

An off-duty Webb City, Missouri police officer was at a playground with his family when his child had become distressed while on top of the slide. The officer climbed the slide to retrieve his child and at some point, his holstered firearm fell out and onto the ground. Where this story gets really bad . . .

is when a 6-year-old child found the firearm and pulled the trigger, sending a bullet into a nearby slide.

No one was injured.

There is no mention of the type of holster that the officer was using to house his off-duty firearm, but it sounds like it didn’t offer much in the way of retention. I am not sure as to the orientation of the officer or his holster, but it seems that it should have been secured better than it was.

For example, climbing a slide should not interfere with a properly holstered firearm.

Responsibility: It’s for everyone.

56 Responses to Off Duty Officer Drops Gun On Playground, 6-Year-Old Picks It Up

Sarcasm – I recognize it. A rational person gets it and scoffs, but we’re not talking about rational people here. We’re tlking about peple who have a whole different World View. To them, the incident shows only this: “If that can happen to a trained LEO, imagine what could happen to a regular civilian!! The horror!!!””

This sort of thing is exactly why I make my holsters with a lot of retention. Something might still cause my gun to get pulled out, but it’d have to be a lot of force, and I’m definitely going to feel it come off.

I wondered that too. I can see how you might not notice an LCP or other micro poly .380 fall out as light as they are. I sometimes wake up from a couch nap with mine on and don’t immediately realize I am still carrying. And that is the kind of gun a 6 year old would have no trouble pulling the trigger on with small hands.

But if the guy was carrying his duty gun, like a Glock or Sig, then good question. How the hell did he NOT feel it fall out?

The antis entire mantra is that only our governmental overlords and their costumed enforcers are good enough to own and carry guns, so this story is one of many that blows that narrative out of the water. They’ll bury this.

Isn’t it interesting how people will spend hundreds of dollars on a gun and then scrimp and buy a $15 holster? I use a $60 Crossbreed IWB and I can pretty much guarantee that i will not lose my gun no matter what I’m doing . . . as long as i have my pants on. 😉

The cops will outscore the law abiding hands down, if only because cops handle guns every day, and a whole lot of other gun owners, even CWP holders, don’t.
I suspect the cops will beat the gang bangers in the ND department too.

The cops will outscore the law abiding hands down, if only because cops handle guns every day, and a whole lot of other gun owners, even CWP holders, don’t.

Your assertion presumes that regular carry of firearms increases the likelihood of a negligent discharge. I would assert to the contrary, that it is improper handling of firearms that increases the likelihood of negligent discharge.

Regardless, to test the point: make a subset of daily permitted/constitutional carriers, to differentiate them from those who merely lawfully possess, but do not regularly carry, firearms.

Oh for fuck’s sake. I’m all for forgiving mistakes, but this is just too much. I have seen cops off-duty who had stupid cheap “Mike’s” holsters that fall off easily and that’s bad enough, but on a playground? There is just no excuse I can think of for this.

One of two things has to happen. One: departments need to mandate holsters the same way many mandate particular carry guns. This sucks for those officers who are not idiots and will no longer be able to pick and choose an effective means of carry based around their individual needs.

Or two, the better option: someone moronic enough to screw the pooch this bad is no longer part of the department. Not because he would make this mistake again- I doubt he would- but to show others that there is a price for that level of dumb.

I had been an USAF SP in the 80’s. if we had “lost” a firearm like that, there would have been a minimum of 30-days corrective custody (jail) and a quick change of AFSC (fired) in our short military career.